Vehemency
To be honest, Arckanum was fairly unknown act for me before the release of Antikosmos, the first full-length in 10 years. This sort-of-comeback-album received some negative feedback, but fortunately I still grabbed this, because it turned out to be a great album.
While most of the songs on Antikosmos have sinister sounding down-tuned guitar riffs, there is also room for atmospheric melancholy, as expressed towards the end of ”Svarti” and also ”Sú Vitran”, the latter being the ultimate highlight of Antikosmos. The last track ”Formála” is basically a doom metal song and ”Blóta Loka” presents some really creepy and ritualistic sounds, so there’s lots of musical diversity in Antikosmos.
The music is played very tightly, the drums especially which are even a bit technical every now and then. Production-wise the album is clear but still massive sounding, so that the down-tuned riffs have great power, especially in contrast to the less furious and more atmospheric parts of Antikosmos.
It’s a shame I can’t read the lyrics, but luckily I have bought and read Shamaatae’s book on this subject, named PanParadox, so I basically know what is going on. And I’ve got to give him points for his headstrong life path that is nicely reflected into his music. This kind of determination and real enthusiasm towards own world view in audial form is always welcome to my stereos, instead of all the bedroom metal out there with no personal ideas, frankly speaking.